Mr Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia party insist he is the only candidate for the regional presidency as the other main pro-secession party is wavering.

Joan Tarda of the separatist Republican Left party said while they prefer to see Mr Puigdemont restored to power, their supreme goal is to have a pro-independence government in place by Wednesday to avoid a new election.

Catalonia has become Spain's biggest political crisis in decades.

Spain responded to the October declaration of independence by firing the regional government, dissolving Catalonia's parliament and calling a new regional election.